


Lullaby

by RedRuse



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Aligns with Canon, Alliances, Canon Related, Early in Canon, Exploration, False Memories, Galra Empire, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Lions, Mecha, Mentioned Zarkon (Voltron), Mentions of Other Voltron Paladins, New Planets, Original Character-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, SOLDIER - Freeform, Spoilers, Voltron, new villain, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-07-06 02:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15876870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedRuse/pseuds/RedRuse
Summary: Disregard this fic. Stopped it because I focused, instead, on an original story that is a sequel to the story I incorporated here; just without Voltron like it originally was.Zarkon's empire reigned for over ten thousand years, crushing rebellion and planets in his wake. The legendary Voltron - five sentient lions with spirited Paladins and the last known Alteans - have only just reappeared to join the fight and spread peace through the universe. While that's happening, however, another battle begins.Some of the universe had yet to be conquered, Earth being one of many planets in the lineup. Hidden among those stars is a desolate yet habitable planet called Zestus. It's home to a very human-looking population that is about to receive the biggest shock of a lifetime as Glen James, the young pilot of a giant dual-bodied mecha called Pluto and a soldier of a specialized military attack force, crash lands on its surface.From there, another group of unlikely heroes joins the battle for freedom against the Galran Empire and the enemies it  secrelty allied itself with. Even Voltron, as powerful as it is, needs a hand every now and then.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **Disregard this fic. I stopped it because the transcription of the roleplay it started as into an easily read format is a pain and because I focused, instead, on an original story that is a sequel to the story I incorporated here; just without Voltron, like it originally was.**
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> It's ya boi.  
> A good friend of mine and I wrote a story that was essentially a crackfic of the space cartoons/animes we enjoyed when we were younger. This was long before Voltron ever came out and, honestly, we had devised so much that I wanted to share it. As I caught up to Voltron (spoil anything and I will hunt you down) I felt like my own space babies could actually exist in the same universe. At the time of writing this, I have put off season seven out of anxiety (I haven't gotten on Instagram in months out of fear). The story here begins alongside the early days of Voltron.
> 
> I dread having to rewatch it for information when I forget stuff.. >.< Fair warning that, as scarce as it may be, there could potentially be spoilers in the contents.
> 
> As with all of my fics so far, it's based around OCs so if that's not your cup of tea, seek content elsewhere.  
> Enjoy.

In the bustling but warm, dusted atmosphere of Zestia City, a chase was underway. Authorities in their hover cars zipped over the smooth main road, pedestrians moving aside and other vehicles clearing the path. The target of their chase was ripping away on dual-exhausted speeder, weaving like a needle through small spaces and other obstacles as their sack of stolen goods rested securely on the back. Due to their complete disregard for public safety, they had a better chance of escape than the police did of catching them. The hovercraft belonging to the sergeant of the squadron pulled ahead, close to ramming into the speeder's rear. 

"You're under arrest!" was the command, "Stop resisting or face certain destruction!" 

They only said it that way because the Union of Zestus authorities had a special unit that never hesitated against the criminal; especially when this is said criminal's fourth dangerous offense. But the convict only laughed, turning in his seat and removing his attention from the hectic road ahead. Lifting an ungloved hand - compared to that of the concealed other - he snapped his fingers together. The friction sparked and collided, exerting a heated force that arched forward and smashed down on the police car's hood. Unable to regain control, the sergeant spun out and crashed into one of the many buildings that lined Main Street. The rest of the squadron almost immediately received orders to forget their commander and engage the target via the communication link in their vehicles. Rangers changed their modes, riding instead up the faces of buildings to take a more aerial approach, guns of different models dropping from steel under bellies. As they took their aim, an entirely new element entered the fray. The criminal turned forward in his seat, eyes widening behind his Phantom Night holiday mask. Someone had firmly planted themselves in the middle of the road, their lowered, olive green hood caught in the breeze of the heated day. The red beanie atop their mop of brown hair looked like it was a mess of flames, and for some reason that alarmed the convict. No matter, he would just plow through; if they didn't move, it was their fault.

Much to his relief, they did move, taking a singular step out of his path. However, just as he was passing and risked a glance over, a grin stretched across the stranger's lips. "Get outta here!" they roared, slamming a left hook around and into the rear of the speeder. The metal collapsed, crushed by the sheer and unguarded force. There was no recovering from this, both convict and ride crashing into the ground and bouncing off into a parked car. In moments, the matter was resolved; speeder was junked, punk was locked up, goods were returned. The sergeant - unharmed from his earlier crash - turned to view the mysterious "stranger". Truth be told, he knew who they were, and that this wasn't the first time they intervened.

"Gino, you--"

The brunette gave a sudden salute, already running in the other direction towards the box they called home. "See ya later, Atty!" Gino called back, grinning like the kid he still was. One of the officers suggested they went after her - _him_ \- but the sergeant only shook his head, looking both annoyed and amused all at once.  
"No.. It'll just happen again anyways."

Gino was back home in a jiffy, first taking a detour through the place he called home. First floor had all the essentials like a living space and kitchen (bathroom too), and all of the included trinkets. Downstairs had the fun stuff like four bedrooms - two actual bedrooms and two hammocks in the massive, shared space where he and his partner in crime slept more often - the shared space with piles of crap and knick knacks, pieces of furniture, tech and machinery, and even things that weren't entirely normal in their society like paper books. His excursion brought up nothing that fell into the best friend category, so in minutes he was back on the surface. With a nice "howdy doo" to the old neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Cuniggs, the brunette climbed up the considerably small rectangular box of metal walls and sat on the edge, looking out over the bridge that connected Zestia City to the outer Crash Zone. Tetra explored the Crash Zone - the majority of the planet's arid surface that most cosmic bodies slammed into - on this side of the city, and when she didn't Gino would go with her to the opposite end. So he waited, much like a loyal dog would await the return of his master.

#### |=|

Humming a simple yet happy tune under her breath, the raven sorted through the remaining pieces of a broken cosmic speeder. She picked out undamaged bolts, as well as intact lengths of wire and anything alike. Anything that was whole enough to function, Tetra pulled out and dropped into a little rusted cart. This was actually a pretty often occurrence - her sneaking around a junkyard and scavenging parts from "useless" machines. It was like a supermarket for her. For this particular teenager, the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure" was probably the most accurate saying in the Universe. She had the needed parts already listed in her mind. However, there were a few side projects that she wanted to accomplish; hence the "unnecessary" parts that she kept piling inside of the cart.

The raven didn't stop digging around until she couldn't fit another part in her pile without everything falling off. Once that happened, all that was left for her was to drag it all back home. For her, as well as her friend, home was a metallic shack. It was a more recent shelter of theirs; one that was designed by Tetra and built by the both of them. It was partially underground, so as to add a bit of a "hidden bunker" feel to the atmosphere. That, and it hid them from any bandits and from many figures of the law; even if a certain sergeant knew exactly where they were at all times. Made from a bunch of discarded shipping containers that had been doctored into one large structure, the shelter was actually pretty spacious. The duo had tried to make it neat and somewhat fancy at some point, but that desire had been quickly overwhelmed by the amount of junk that they both collected.

It was a day like any other. The broadcast made no mention of any outer debris that'd come falling through the atmosphere so, unfortunately, all there was to be picked from included older wrecks and the occasional charred space rock. Tetra didn't think to prepare herself for the loud thundering sound of her familiar atmosphere being ruptured. Out the corner of her eye, the teenager spotted something moving rapidly towards the ground, lit ablaze by the speed and angle with which it aimed for the Zestus soil. Her curiosity overcame common sense, and Tetra soon found herself ditching her cart and rushing towards the falling object.

#### |=|

The hyper-warp tunnel dumped its contents into the vastness of space before sealing shut and zipping off for the next quadrant; a continuous cycle of disappearing and reappearing along invisible routes that normally had nothing to show for it outside of the occasional, daring vessel. This time, however, it left behind a heavily beaten mechanical body to float aimlessly in the expanse. 


	2. Meteor

His sense were utterly overloaded with lights, sounds, and the crushing pressure of space collapsing in around him. He was sure he was still bleeding - despite all the time that had passed - and every rush through space via hyper warp tunnel suddenly vanished. Not only Glen, but the Pluto was now floating weightlessly in the empty vastness of stars. Autopilot stopped quite a ways back, yet the craft never stopped moving. Glen wanted to turn around and head home, reaching limply for the grip-shaped joystick controls running horizontally against the interior of the cockpit on either side. They were positioned in their usual diagonal state and stopped in the middle of the sliding track, ready to be moved and the craft to be commanded. The only problem was that the controls themselves were jammed, locked in their tracks with no way to unlock again. Glen turned his head with much difficulty, the head of his vessel doing the same so that a static and color-warped image to come into focus on the right interior side of the screen paneled cockpit. For a fleeting moment, he actually saw what he presumed to be the hyper warp tunnel. The endlessly flowing green tube with a dumping point in deep space collapsed in front of him, vanishing to undoubtedly reappear in some other sector of the emptiness. Seeing that made the young man feel even worse; more so emotionally and mentally rather than physically. With a heavy and pained breath of defeat, Glen sagged in his seat and allowed his hands to go limp, slipping off of the maneuvering controllers. 

Now in this slumped state, the Pluto responded by shutting down all unnecessary functions and continued to float aimlessly. To where, he didn't know... Maybe some distant star with a gravity strong enough to reach his craft? Which only meant that his real death would be in a burning inferno instead of with his family, friends, and entire planet. He wanted to cry, earthy brown eyes watering to the point where he couldn't see out of his cracked and blood smudged helmet. As much as he wanted to wipe his eyes, he simply couldn't; he didn't want to take off the one thing he swore was protecting him. Glen tilted his head back against the headrest, lowering his gaze so he could peer through the dimmed wall in front of him. 

  


See, the cockpit was constructed of nearly indestructible glass-like material that dominated the kind NASA used to make back in 2016. It was like enamel or plexiglass, just much more resilient when it came down to it. When the vessel was operating, the walls would lighten - only on the inside, as on the outside it simply looked like the same metal armoring the whole craft - and multiple views would present themselves. The front view was generally whatever was in front of the pilot; more often than not, the holographic projections of the dash in front the pilot would cover at least a bit of the view with its coding and displays. This view varied a lot anyways, given the fact that the chest (where the cockpit was located on the full-scale mech) isn't always directed towards the battle and main focus. Left and right were nearly identical to the front, save for the fact that their plating wasn't as wide yet it still provided a good view. But aside from being windows looking outward, they also served as incredible screens with perfectly flawless picture and color. This was designed in such a way due to the responsiveness of the mech to the pilot; if the pilot turns his head, the mech does too. For someone new to the whole thing, it just seemed as if the cockpit was in the head instead of the chest. However - though the chest is often the most struck area - it proved to be much safer than the head due to the extensive protection the main body provided for cover. But all Glen got to see was black and empty space, the few glitters of stars hundreds of light years away not even serving as a solace to him. 

What was he to do now? Die like this? Go insane? Pity himself? Feel angry at his father-- That last one was impossible and he knew it. The blond gave a pained noise of complaint, hunching forward to rest his heavy head in his stained hands. "Elias..." he whimpered in a hoarse voice, fighting off the urge to cry as best he could, "What do I do..." Elias was only a name - just a name that came to mind. He couldn't make many connections to it, save for the little boy he often saw in his dreams. His father would often say that Elias was the little brother Glen never knew, but even that couldn't explain it. Nonetheless, he accepted it as his reality and clung to it like it was the only thing keeping him alive; now that he had nothing else, being too weak to continue fighting, he continued to cling to this imaginary essence. "Elias... What now..?"

  


##### SYSTEM ONLINE.

  


Immediately, Glen snapped to attention at the sound of his craft booting back to life. The lights turned back on - the teen forced close his eyes for a moment due to how bright it got in such a short period of time - and the whirs of countless systems filled his ringing ears. He could even hear the sound of the rear thrusters in the wings and along the shoulders preparing to ignite. It was so....bizarre, so random that he had no idea how to respond!

  


##### PLANETARY MASS DETECTED.  
ENGAGING LONG-DISTANCE SCANNERS FOR SIGNS OF STABILITY.

  


There was a planet?! Or, at least something of similar mass... Maybe a station or star-rested colony-- But that was beside the point! Glen opened his eyes and as soon as they adjusted, he was leaning forward, staring through the glass shielding in front of him. It was too far off to get a good look, but he was floating ever closer and soon established a better view; it was indeed a planet. If he had to guess, it was smaller than Earth but the difference might've been more minuscule than Venus'. From way out here, it still surprised him how different it was from the place he called home, possessing not green soil - granted, there were some darker, forested splotches around the bottom of it - but something more of a deserted, dark salmon color. Veins and extraterrestrial formations of mountain blue and lavender purple laced from the bottom to the equator, becoming more scarce beyond the visibly red border wrapped around its middle. The geography had some jagged points and some smooth ones with darker shades here and there, but it became an empty desolate past that ring. Up until the point where it reached the last quarter of its northern end; evenly spaced out lines reached up, clearly a feat of intelligent architecture, growing closer together by the peak of the planet only to connect at the base of what he could best describe as a city.

A city... Sure, he had already noticed dark clumps of what could quite possibly be civilization, but this was unbelievable. Everything had appeared flat against this alien planet's surface, safe under the cushion of - hopefully - atmosphere, but this city seemed to overpower it. Well, despite his observation the city also possessed the same salmon glow that the rest of the planet did from what could very well be that atmosphere he hoped for. The bracing straps that had kept him secure from over the tops of his shoulders and crossed in front of his suited chest tightened a bit, ensuring he wouldn't move about during this...landing.

  


##### PLANETARY BODY STABLE, BEGINNING EMERGENCY  
MEASURES.

  


Finally igniting, the rear thrusters and those of the wings artfully off the shoulders kicked in, blasting the Pluto and its pilot toward the alien world. A few broken displays popped up, showing 3D models of both the main mech build and the Planetary Model deeper within, as well as every single status it could account for. Power reserves were running on empty but the vessel continued anyways; hull strength was weak but that wasn't stopping it now. Depending on the strength of the atmosphere and the velocity upon entry, these few moments where the pilot wasn't in complete control decided whether or not he survived. To trust one's life in the hands of a machine was what the Advanced Era of Earth had led the populous of humanity to do. At least... That's what he thought anyways.. He wasn't sure which part of his mental process had gotten the information wrong, just that it wasn't _right._

Closing his eyes, Glen couldn't help but pray to whatever god out there to ensure his safety; if the entry didn't kill him, and neither did the landing that was in store, then it would be his still bleeding wound. Yet he would have a chance. A feasible, plausible chance. As the Pluto rattled heavily and systems began to shut down again, warning sounds blared throughout the cockpit, leaving the currently blind pilot in a state of panic. So, he whispered a "prayer" to the one he called Elias.

##  _CRASH_

There was only the beeping of an alarm in his ears, and the dulling flash of a red light that seeped through the male's eyelids. His body hurt all over and he couldn't feel his head at all; the only evidence that he wasn't dead was all the noise and pain that assaulted his senses. Opening his blurred eyes, Glen only saw darkness - even when the flashing light over his head illuminated the glass shielding. He knew he shouldn't have survived and yet, somehow, here he was. Well, he wasn't okay in the slightest, but at least he was alive. Maybe. The mech had miraculously survived it all as well, buried back first in some kind of massive crater on the alien world with its thick wings practically stuck in the ground like stakes. It was still functional - at least that's what Glen's hazy mind concluded when he heard the faint drone of a singular system - and the bracing straps undid themselves in a sluggish fashion, sliding back into their holders and out of sight. The front of the cockpit unlocked itself, a rush of steam and smoke both exiting and entering his vicinity like water flooding a poor, forsaken boat. 

As the plating opened upward like a lid, it was a brightly lit baby blue sky that greeted his aching eyes, the rays of some mysterious sun seemingly washing away most of the clouds that engulfed him. Glen moved then, his body screaming in protest with every bend of the joint and swing of a limb. He couldn't feel his lower body - or any part of him for that matter - but that wouldn't stop his progression. With grunts and groans, the young pilot clad in a white, faintly armored nylon bodysuit, decorated by a large red circular design over his chest, his back, crossing over the collar and hips, and spilling along the inside of his arms, pulled himself over his controls and nooks, soon flopping over the hot edge of the cockpit. His broken helmet was only making his head hurt more but he didn't want to remove it; fresh, breathable air was already seeping through the cracks in the glass. He tried to hold himself up for a moment, forcing himself to turn his head to look at that of his mech. Its own head was tilted to the side, viewing past the raised shield of the cockpit as if it wanted to see if it's pilot was okay - really, that was one part of its "special" design. The moment he could've sworn he saw his reflection in the illuminated blue shield over the majority of its humanoid face, was the very moment the eye lights went dull, all tension in the mechanical body vanishing so that it went limp. With a sigh, Glen allowed himself to accept the darkness that clawed his mind and passed out, hanging over the hard edge of his cockpit.

#### |=|


	3. Mystery Patient

Tetra found herself at the edge of the scarred crater. Heat radiated off of the burnt ground as it would off a stove, enough to make the hair on her arms curl. It was considerably deep as well, and the depression itself had damaged a good portion of land. In the very center was a contraption she could only describe as a large mechanical body. It was somewhat humanoid, but with a few extra parts that allowed it to be more sturdy and aerodynamic. For a good minute or two, the raven could only stare. Its design was foreign to her and, seeing as though mechanics were her favorite hobby, she immediately took an interest in it. The urge to take it apart in order to figure out how it functioned was strong; and the desire to create one of her own was even stronger. The aerodynamic protrusions and plates she _thought_ she saw struck her as odd, seeing as how such a vessel came from space where the laws of aerodynamics need not apply. Perhaps it was design? Or maybe it served a more pertinent function. 

Not noticing the injured person at first, Tetra darted towards the fallen object. The heat only rose in temperature as she got closer, but such a difference didn't matter to the excited girl. Coming up to the feet of the humanoid contraption in all of its decorated red and white plated glory, she was basically vibrating with anticipation. The metal was too hot to touch without risking injury, so she put off such an action for the time being. Until it cooled off, her only means of figuring out how it functioned was by sight. Slowing her pace to a manageable speed, she wandered around the robot until she came to a very alarming sight. "Holy shit..." Panic immediately filled the girl to her very core. Adrenaline took over, and she once again found herself traveling as fast as she was able. Ignoring the pain from the heat, she climbed up the searing robotic body and towards the person that was hanging out of it. Her palms quickly became red and blistered, but that hardly mattered to the raven.

  


Upon reaching the organic body, Tetra proceeded to grab him by the shoulders and hold him upright to the best of her ability. "Hey, are you alive? Hello?!" When no answer reached her ears, the fear in her only grew. Pulling the stranger further out of the cockpit, she proceeded with the process of getting him to the ground. The act was difficult, and took quite a bit of time considering the sheer _scale_ of the foreign craft, but eventually she managed it without dropping the poor guy. Laying him down on the scorched Zestus soil, she took a step back. As far as she could tell, he was still breathing. Without knowing what was going on or where he had come from, Tetra just immediately assumed that he was from somewhere else on Zestus. After all, from what she could tell, he seemed to be of the same species as many of the other residents of the planet. Taking into consideration the scale of the mecha as well, it didn't seem entirely _possible_ for it to have come from beyond the stars. So, with that in mind, the girl ended up removing his virtually shattered helmet and setting it to the side.

The face that greeted her was heavily pained but equally animated; definitely alive. His hair was blonde, the sideburns of which and the ends stuck to the back of his neck with sweat looked shaggy and unkempt, but the general length remained fairly short, maybe even neat despite the nature of the situation. Naturally, she couldn't see his eyes - nor did she dare to peel back his eyelids to peek. What concerned Tetra was how deathly blue his lips were becoming and how pale his skin already was. The eyes themselves were practically sunken into his skull, shadowed by death and pooled by the ever trickling cold sweat. Removing her tattered rag of a jacket, she bunched it up and laid it under the blonde's head like a pillow. He looked pretty banged up, although more intact than he should've been from such a fall; even with the mechanical body protecting him. All of the medical supplies were back at the home base, which honestly wasn't too far from the newly formed crater if she ran fast enough. "I'll be right back." Tetra spoke up, just in case the stranger could hear her. "Stay here, okay? You're going to be alright... I hope." Turning on her heel, the raven raced toward her makeshift home.

 

By the time that she was within sight of her friend on the top of their shared unit, Tetra was prepared to drop. Despite her home being relatively close to the crater, it was still a bit of a distance to travel on foot. Plus, considering the fact that she was sprinting everywhere, her energy was rapidly depleting. Her legs hurt, her lungs burned for air, a cramp was forming in her side, and the pain from her blistered hands was finally registering in her mind. All in all, she was in pretty bad shape; and the fact that her heart was about to explode from anxiety wasn't helping anything. At this point, the only thing that was keeping her from collapsing was pure adrenaline. The sight of a familiar brunette made things a little better, though... A wave of relief washed over the panicking teenager, and her sage-green eyes widened a bit with relief. However, the depleting sense of fear also took away from her supply of adrenaline, forcing her to slow down quite a bit due to exhaustion. 

Breathing heavily, Tetra raised a heavy arm above her head and did her best to wave at the other. "Gino!" the raven gasped. "Med-Medical kit! Get the medical kit, someone's h-hurt bad!" While she was far from shy around the male - her stutter wasn't uncommon in most conversations - it was just plain hard for her to speak while maintaining a healthy supply of air. Instead of waiting to see if the brunette followed her instructions or not, she took off in a different direction altogether. He had a look of shock that quickly shot to recognition before she turned away, so she could be rest assured that he would handle the rest. At the side of their shelter was a small metallic shack that acted as their garage. Unlike their home, it wasn't filled to the rim with collected crap; unless you counted a speeder and some intact spare parts. Hopping onto the driver's seat, Tetra placed a burned palm on the dashboard. 

Closing her eyes for a moment, she checked to make sure that everything was functioning correctly before starting the engine. Her energy seeped through the speeder, testing each wire like a nerve and ghosting over fluid levels and belts. This was her gift, one could call it. Many inhabiting Zestia City and Zestus as a whole had magnificent powers that augmented them physically; Gino and the superhuman strength in his limbs was evidence of this. However, Tetra stood as an outlier. She didn't have any special skills or powers that showed themselves in her actions, but it was her brain that held the power, that could alter the flow of her own life energy into a machine or other mechanical body. Aside from a dying light in the front, the hovering vehicle appeared to be undamaged enough to get a quick run done. Without any further hesitation, the girl started up the speeder. Wanting to get back to the crater in a hurry, she even pulled out of the garage and hovered in front of their shelter; waiting for the brunette to join her with the needed materials was like a test to her anxiety. 

Tetra was only just slowing to a stop in front of the entrance when the other appeared with the scuffed medical kit gripped tightly in his hand. Miraculously, Gino had kept his calm composure this entire time, hopping onto the back of the readied speeder and, before he even sat down, pointed ahead in the direction his friend had come from. "Let's go!" he told her. Nodding, Tetra revved the siphoning motor before speeding towards their destination. While the trip was much shorter returning to the site than it had been coming away from it, Tetra managed to get a bit of rest before they arrived. She was still on the edge of a worried heart attack throughout the entire ride, but at the very least her breathing started to return to its natural pattern. The duo zipped across the northern bridge and towards the more barren section of land, a streaming cloud of dust left behind in their wake. The raven refused to ease up on the accelerator until their destination was within sight. 

 

By this time, the thin column of steam and smoke radiating from the crashed vessel had dissipated somewhat. It was slowly becoming barely visible, but still abundant enough to signify where the crater was. Tetra brought the speeder to a dragging stop at the edge of the damaged earth. Hopping off of the hovering vehicle, she raced towards the mechanical body; as well as the injured person that she had temporarily abandoned beside it. Gino hadn't waited for the speeder to stop, leaping off and charging for the craft but, undoubtedly, the sight had him freezing in place just at the lip of the crater.

Tetra practically slid all the way down due to the somewhat glassy and steep decline caused by the heated impact of the robotic suit. Still, she managed to remain upright the entire time; only coming close to falling on her face when she neared the bottom. "He's over here, come on!" Coming to a stop next to the injured blond, Tetra immediately dropped to her knees. Relying on her brunette companion to bring the medical supplies, she worked on identifying any major wounds. Blood had soaked a big part of the human's white suit, a blackened stain drenching a singular spot on his abdomen. There were many other wounds that littered his body - one of which had started to paint the earth against his back - but that seemed like the most life threatening one. At the same time, the male's breathing had become extremely haggard and his chest seemed to quiver with every shortened, heavy breath he took. Even more color had left his face during Tetra's time away and his eyes looked like they were nothing more than shaded hollows, as if Death was brushing his cold fingers against the male's soul.

Gino had launched himself from his stupor and charged down the sleek side of the crater, his momentum carrying him past Tetra and the wounded person they were there to save. His eyes locked onto the mech before he turned away, trapped in a state of awe and disbelief. Now wasn't the time, but... It's not like he could readily ignore it for much longer. The sight of their patient had Gino completely somersaulting into that "mode" of his. Quickly returning to the duo, he was soon kneeling on the opposite side across from Tetra, popping open the medical kit. In this day and age, the use for physical medical supplies had dwindled to an all time low, most aid coming from machines and high-grade tech that you could find in every other home. It was amazing, really, but the brunette always refused to get rid of the kit. And it looked like it was the right choice after all. 

 

"Prop his head up more than that," the Zestian instructed his friend, quickly gesturing toward Glen's head and the now sunken in jacket. Reaching into the plastic box, he drew out a small set of scissors, snipping the air a few times to make sure they didn't rust since their last use. Finding that they didn't, Gino pinched up a piece of the bodysuit's material and cut a small opening. Using that as his starting point, he snipped a large T into the fabric; the body of the T went up along Glen's chest, the head of the T went from nearly hip to hip. Each cut had been neat and orderly, and now it was easy to spread apart the restrictive clothing for a better area to work. 

Taken by surprise, Gino gasped when he saw the critical wound that ceaselessly pulsed blood out of the body; it was incredibly deep and messy, veins of some foreign infection branching from the injury. It was swollen, too, as if-- "Something's stuck in it," the brunette stated, not wanting to leave Tetra in the dark, "Just great..." Gino growled in frustration as he began messing around in the kit for something, anything to extract the obstruction before handing a cotton swab and a small bottle of disinfectant cleaner to the girl, quietly insisting she took care of the scrapes and injuries on the stranger's head. "What the hell happened anyways?" the brunette demanded, soon trying to find something to close the wound. He placed a sort of rag against the wound - one of those special ones, you know, for incredibly heavy flows or whatever - and soaked up the excess blood, glancing over at the raven with a quizzical expression.

Fighting against her own shaking hands, the Tetra sought to get her part done correctly and quickly once the disinfectant was entrusted to her. With her somewhat limited knowledge about flesh wounds, she began cleaning the gashes on the blond's head. Pouring the sharp chemical liquid onto the swab, she dabbed at even the most minuscule cuts; not wanting anything to get infected if she could help it. Her expertise was more in machines than it could ever be in people. Give her a broken communicator and she would be able to repair it and even upgrade it in no time at all with parts to spare. However, when it came to injuries, she was often at a total loss. So, Tetra was more than grateful that her partner in crime had come with her; it gave the wounded male a higher chance of survival overall. 

She was so focused on her own task, in fact, that she almost missed the other's question entirely. Biting the inside of her cheek, Tetra attempted to keep herself calm enough to carry on. "I...I don't know. All I saw was something falling from the sky and I-I think it was him." Motioning to the robotic body with one hand, she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "He was in that when I found him. And I pulled him out and... Shit, Gino do you think we can fix him?" For once, the raven was talking about an actual living being, and not just another hunk of junk machine. Unaware of where the male had come from, and where he was now, Tetra only saw him as a fellow Zestian. A person just like her and her companion. She only wanted him to be saved. 

To the brunette, it was a strange question; you couldn't just fix a person like you could a machine. He was sure Tetra knew this, that this was her way of moving onward with it. After all, at this point a life was in their hands. Though he questioned the true origins of this mysterious, fleshy creature, there was no time to worry about it now. A small smile graced his lips when he saw just how insistent her concern for the stranger was through her expressions. Still, he left her question unanswered - unable to guarantee anything.

There was no more time to dilly dally - unfortunately - and Gino absolutely had to get to work, nearly tossing the blood soaked rag into the dirt instead of the medical carton. From the kit, he drew out another bottle of disinfectant - more high-grade than the little one he gave to the raven - and a tool that could best be described as pliers. "Don't squirm.." he muttered to himself, his comment directed towards Glen but spoken too softly for it to count. 

 

He sterilized the pliers, dipping them in the fluid to bleach them clean. Flicking the excess fluid off, Gino took a breath and leaned over the male. Sure, his hands were trembling - anyone would be anxious in this situation - but he forced every ounce of his being to cool its jets, daring to hold his breath as he attempted to extract whatever the hell was hurting the blond. The tips of the pliers slowly sunk into the wound, reaching for whatever foreign obstruction it could find in its grasp. Gino's brows furrowed heavily when the infectious veins bulged, as if they were upset at his efforts - was this thing sentient? Whatever it was? God he hoped not... He opened the mouth of the tool and found that something slipped between the rounded teeth, gingerly applying pressure so that he could get some sort of grasp on it. But get this; it squirmed. 

Instantly he thought he was going to explode, a hand flying up to cover his mouth. "What the hell..." he hissed out, having to tighten the pressure before whatever it was could slip away. In his efforts to extract it, the Zestian could feel a heavier weight that didn't match the foreign objects' composition; either it latched onto something, or it had something with it. With a glance over at the strained expression of the pilot, he mouthed a quick apology and yanked the pliers back and out. A scream left the wounded male's mouth but it was drowned out by the shriek of a small, writhing black creature stuck in the brunette's pliers. Gino was up on his feet in a heartbeat, staggering back out of his own surprise before flinging it into the ground. Tetra fell back onto her palms at the mere sight of the infector, the raven attempting to somewhat crawl away while she still could. A squeak of surprise managed to tear its way out of her throat. The parasitic _thing_ made an attempt to escape but then the world collapsed in around it; literally. The Zestian felt the quick burst of heat along the back of his calf and slammed a sudden, powerful foot down onto the creature as if it were a bug, shattering the surrounding stone before causing the seared ground to partially cave inward. Oops. His boot lifted, revealing the squashed remains of whatever it had been smeared across a deformed piece of metal; metal that matched that of the fallen craft.

"What the hell is that thing?! How'd it get inside of him?" Tetra squeaked as she scrambled to her feet. One question after another began piling up; the base being 'who was this strange boy?' 

Gino quite obviously had no clue how to answer, his entire body tense as if still in danger. His thoughts ran away from him and old memories took their place; he had actually seen something similar to it three years ago, writhing in the remains of a meteor crash even though it had died almost immediately. The difference between the two was that this thing had been _alive_. The brunette looked back and over at Glen, focusing on his pained and paled expression before looking at the wound. Thankfully, the infectious veins had vanished after the possible source had been removed, and now all that was left was the cleaning of the wound and the suturing. Now for that other question-- "If he really came from inside of that thing," he commented, pointing towards the steaming and discarded mechanoid, "then it was either in there with him, or it got in somehow. Maybe it was something that hit him?" 

There was really no way to tell and that concerned him. From his jacket pocket, the male Chusonean drew out a rounded device, tossing it over to Tetra. "Take pictures of the craft," Gino told her with a smile, "we can look at them later." This was also his way of shooing the girl away; he knew she wasn't a doctor, and that the bodies of machines weren't as creepy, so this was his attempt at removing her from this situation. Tetra obliged without a word of complaint - in fact she was very grateful to leave the two males behind as she scurried for the machine.

 

There was no need for her to personally look back at the images - Gino was well aware of this. All it took was one touch and she knew the machine inside and out: she immediately knew of it's flaws, it's damages, hell even what kind of materials were used for what and how they were made. However, it wasn't like the raven could project those images into her partner's brain; as awesome of an ability as that would be. So, it would be useful for her companion, at least. Besides, Tetra was more than aware that this was just a means of distraction. It was one that she was more than happy to go along with, as well; no matter how worried she was about the mysterious blond. She trusted Gino with her own life and more, tightly gripping a hope that he of all people would be able to help. Starting at the feet of the robotic body, she took care to capture every detail she could. The scale of the whole thing... What was it..? 100 meters? Maybe more? In its presence, Tetra was only a speck that couldn't even manage to stand up at the height of its foot.

Cracks that she remembered appearing on it's surface, and strange additions that was foreign to her at the time... She logged it all in the camera. Even though the girl knew about all of the details on the _backside_ of the machine, she secretly wished that there was a way to safely flip it over so that she could take pictures for Gino to see. However, seeing as though now was not really the time for such a feat, Tetra just kind of settled for everything else. Being a bit more careful about the heat the second time around, she climbed onto the suit in order to take pictures of the frontside. She stopped at it's chest, after looking inside the cockpit in order to try to catch a few pictures for her friend. It was tempting to hop inside and get a better look at the controls, but she decided to put it off for now; seeing as though getting out without burning herself further was going to be a literal pain.

The cockpit - along the exterior plating, underneath the opened capsule - had a part of it that was caved in, as if punctured by something small and incredibly fast. It bent the metal all the way into the actual control station itself, nearly reaching the seat before the tip split open. If one had to guess, that was how that creature got into the ship and the pilot. But it was a case for another time, as that should've been clear given the current situation.

  


This wasn’t the place for medical feats. Gino managed to suture the most severe of the wounds with what little thread they had, but it wasn’t going to last; not in this climate and not with this extremity. A call from the brunette had Tetra scurrying back to his side. They would need to be careful on the return home, yet they had to be quick. Their stranger was still on the brink and the ride back could jostle his injury.

Loading up onto the speeder - hardly designed for two and far too old to handle _three_ \- Tetra took to the helm. They streaked back towards the distant city limits, dust in their wake and the mechanoid body far behind them. As it stood now, neither of the two knew exactly what it was they had gotten themselves into.

#### |=|


	4. Forsaken

This wounded body of his erupted from the darkness, a voice luring Glen into the waking world. Was it Aris? He didn't know, but hoped it was - would that mean he was dead? Every bit of pain told him otherwise, a gasp of fresh, almost familiar air flooding past his lips and into his lungs. Brown eyes widened to stare up at a dulled slate gray ceiling, finding the physical presence of everything around him to be foreign yet comforting all the same. He wasn't with the Pluto anymore, his helmet wasn't encasing his head and the clothes adorning his body weren't his own. It was startling.

Glen hastily moved to sit up, regretting the action as pain splintered through his abdomen. Hand clasped against the injury, he expected blood and open flesh but was shocked further by the lack of such things. Everything was different. Not only that, but he was painstakingly aware of the fact that he wasn't alone. Two figures, both relatively small and humanoid stood in the corner of his sight, just beyond clarity. One stood defensively in front of the other, their eyes sharp like daggers. Despite his better judgement, the soldier wanted to attack.

He made to reach for something previously on his person only to have his grip tighten over empty air; whatever he wanted wasn't with him, given that he had been entirely stripped of everything he knew and understood. "Who are you?!" the blond went on to demand. The one in front of the smaller female tensed and practically bared his teeth. "Where am I?" Glen continued immediately, threatening a glare as he eyed the two, "What did you do to me? Where's my ship?!"

His ship took the utmost priority. Unbeknownst to the Zestian duo, that crashed craft was all the boy had left in this existence - without it, he felt far too lost to be considered alive. Though he glared and spoke with a tone that suggested incredible violence, Glen was trembling, doing his damnedest to keep from faltering. 

 

In response, the leader - brown hair, parted bangs that dangled just barely over the right eye, scruffy sideburns with a compressed mullet, dark forest eyes, and tanned skin - seemed to relax a bit, straightening their posture. "Calm down," he proceeded to encourage with a sort of...commanding tone, "Listen, we're not gonna hurt you. If anything, you should be thanking us - we saved your damn life, got it?" He pulled off the beanie that topped his mop, patting out the reddened seared dust and troddened ash littering the threads before returning it to his head. "You're in our humble abode," the brunette stated, "I'm the man of this house so don't be a dip or I'll break your face in."

_'Friendly...'_ Glen bitterly made a note, his fingers curling into the fabric of his borrowed shirt. However, the male had a point. It wasn't that, yeah, Glen was a stranger in this house of theirs, but the fact that this...person, seemed to have an ulterior motive that needn't concern him. That ulterior motive being a choppily-cut, black haired girl with sage colored eyes, milky skin stained with black splotches, and ever so faintly pointed ears. She was only a little bit shorter than her companion, yet hid behind him like a shield. 

"Like Gino said, we're n-not going to hurt you.." the raven squeaked from behind the other. It became quite clear that she was struggling to maintain eye-contact with Glen. "Y-your ship crashed a little ways from here. It's st-still there, and we'll take you to it once you're completely okay. P-promise! Although..." Her voice fell and so did the blond's heart. "It-it is a bit damaged from the fall..." 

 

Of all the things said to him, it was the news of his damaged ship that crushed all remaining morale. It was probably in pieces now - not the intentional kind, too, that made up a great deal of its impressive functions - all broken up from that acursed crash, and the fight he had been a part of was definitely far more destructive than he cared to admit. But... Pieces...? The Pluto in pieces it wasn't supposed to be in... He was on a planet unknown to him and every database he had memory of searching, every star map found in his father's study never pointed to _here_ , but maybe he was lucky to have human-like people taking care of him. Maybe. Those that had attacked his home had also seemed fairly humanoid themselves so he didn't want to make hopeless assumptions.

He hung his head, carding his fingers through the blonde locks out of distress. "Oh god..." Glen breathed, intending to keep it to himself, "Now what am I going to do..." There remained the option of staying on this foreign world and making a new name for himself; the option of starting over was still a thing. Oh how his entire existence rejected it, wanting nothing more than to blast off and achieve whatever goal his mind sought to reach.  
Lifting his head, he gazed at the two individuals in front of him. "Who..." the human started with, trying to calm the anguish that bubbled in his chest, "Who are you people? What world is this?"

This question - this attempt at peaceful conversation - seemed to calm the one called 'Gino'. The brunette straightened his posture, letting his arms unfold from being securely wrapped around his chest so that his hands could rest in his pockets. "I'm Gino," he introduced, gesturing between himself and the small girl, "and this is Tetra. We can fix your ship, and you're on the good ol' planet of Zestus. We don't have gift baskets or anything to offer like that."

Sarcasm wasn't a foreign concept here, either. However, his focus was pulled elsewhere, to the name that didn't even ring a _bell_ in his head. "Zes... What?"

"Zestus." Tetra repeated. "It's... It's home. I-I guess you're not really from here, huh? Sorry if this is...erm... Really confusing, then." He nodded his agreement but was quickly distrubed by the horror on her face. She suddenly looked at him with fear, eyes darting from his neck to a corner of the shabby steal abode and back again. Regret... Yeah, that's what it was. Maybe some uncertainty as well. Despite her timid demeanor, the raven managed to shake away the expression and looming shadow that nearly overtook her face before beaming the biggest, brightest smile he had seen in over six phoebs--  
_'Wha...What are phoebs anyways..?'_  
"A-and it'll only take a couple of days!" she chirped, even daring to poke further out into the open from behind Gino, "To fix y-your ship, I mean. Most of the damage is external, anyways. It was really well built, so repairing all of the wiring and internal functions shouldn't take too long!" 

His blatant skepticism shone through the furrow of his brow and the scowl of his lips. Letting some wild-child alien tamper with _his_ craft? See, common sense told him to refuse the girl's offer and demand that they let him leave instead. Thing is, there was that numbing sense of defeat in the back of his head when he considered is as a plausible option. It was also present when he thought about giving in and letting her have her way with his beloved machine. What if she broke it and he was stranded? Still...

Another look at Tetra's eager expression, her budding personality as she prodded free of her introverted shell, and those eyes that hardly seemed to have pupils beyond a darker shade of sage in its place, all told him that it would be okay. Somehow, at least. The blonde hung his head in defeat and let out a sigh, saying, "Fine, just...please be _really_ careful with him.."

 

Words couldn't describe the happy expression that dominated the raven's face upon hearing those words. Her eyes lit up like headlights when she gained his permission to get to work on repairing the mech. There was absolutely no holding the girl back at this point. Beyond the glow of her features, Glen could practically see the gears turning seamlessly in her head. No doubt was she already running through the list of tools that would be required to fix it; or at least _attempt_ to fix it. No doubt would the Pluto be beyond her realm of capability. 

Tetra lightly rested her hand on Gino's arm for a moment, making sure that his attention was directed toward her for the few seconds that she needed. "I'll be back by nightfall," she reported, "And I'm gunna take the speeder too... Just so I can get there and back faster." In her frenzy of excitement, the teenager didn't even wait for a response; much less permission to go through with the actions that she had planned. Gino hardly nodded his head when the girl burst through the door and into the arid street outside. Which begged the question of how long Glen had been out, and what this planet's main city looked like...

The girl was gone for no more than a second when his gaze was ripped away from the door Tetra had left through. Gino moved in front of him, hunched but scowling, yet his hostility never seemed to reach his eyes. If nothing else, the brunette's eyes betrayed an emotion Glen couldn't name. "When you're feeling better," he said, "there's something I'd like to show you.. It's _extremely_ important." In response, the soldier could only nod.


	5. The Legendary Hero

Over the course of a few weeks, a few things had struck the blond as odd during his stay on Zestus, and yet they seemed so natural. For one, gravity felt the exact same on Zestus as it did back on Earth. The climate and occasional weather anomaly felt beyond normal that it was sometimes hard to remember that it was truly an alien world. Secondly, the atmosphere was just as pressurized as the Earth he believed he remembered, yet was somehow much more clean in his lungs. It was so....earth-like that he often contemplated why earthlings never found this extremely habitable world. Still, it was too late now - no use thinking of the past.

Finally, it came time for Gino to show him just what had been so critically important to see. The trio left Zestia City together - Gino and Tetra on the speeder while Glen was unceremoniously dragged behind in a hover cart - and returned to the geographical expanse called the Crash Zone. Pluto remained unmoving in its ditch, hard red and white plating scuffed slightly by previous sandstorms and its head lulled to the side by the horrid nightly wind. No doubt had it been depressing to see it in such a state - each visit more crushing than the last - but that wasn't what they were here to see.

Along the way, he overheard Tetra's excited burbs from her seat behind the brunette. "Are we taking him to _that_ place??" she eagerly questioned, "Are you sure Atty won't be mad at us for looking again?" Glen couldn't hear the response nor did he catch the look tossed back his way, but something told him to be prepared.

 

Not too far away from Pluto's crash site were these cracked-looking, rolling ridges that cut straight through the otherwise burned earth. Lots of machines were wrecked here, along with satellites and other debris that must've crashed down from beyond the atmosphere. No part of it actually held depth until Gino was easing on the brake, pulling the speeder at an angle so as not to hit the lip of a downward proceeding slope. It reached under the ridges of the ground, deep into a cavern where no light seemed to reach. All of a sudden, Glen was desperately wishing he had his suit or his helmet; _some_ form of defense against this unknown was better than none.

Gino climbed off first and looked down the slope, his posture tense but his eyes alight with excitement. As the raven girl sprung off the speeder before charging into the humid underground, he looked over at Glen, hesitating. "After this," his tone warned, "I'm going to have a few questions for you, okay?"

"Okay," Glen responded easily.  
Though he said that, there truly was no way to prepare for what he saw down beneath the surface.

 

The way was illuminated by a light strapped around Tetra's wrist as she waited patiently at the bottom of the slope. It hadn't gone down too far and yet the atmosphere seemed to change drastically as opposed to the surface. It's not that it got cooler - though that definitely played a part - it was that the _sensation_ became different. Glen scowled heavily as he followed the two natives deeper into the subterrainian cave, fists clenching at his sides. Both Tetra and Gino were practically vibrating with anticipation, only speaking when the excavated corridor fed into a much larger opening. 

Glen's jaw hit the floor at the sight of the images etched and even burned into the stone, casting shadows over the walls by way of Tetra's wrist-light. Both Zestians stood near the corridor mouth while the blond wandered deeper inward. He was mesmerized, utterly entranced by the stories depicted and the epic explained. Still, it bothered him that a mere _name_ danced on his tongue. Glen swallowed heavily and cast a wary glance back at the others. "What... What is all this..?"

"I don't know the details, but... Over ten thousand years ago," Gino began to explain as his eyes ghosted over each carving of lions nearest to him, "five sentient lions were made and piloted by brave Paladins. Each possessed a unique quality, each served a purpose, and each Paladin came from a different planet. It was the ultimate alliance for peace. We don't know much about the lions themselves, or the history of the Paladins of Old, but what we could at least tell from these markings we found was that..." He hesitated, glancing back towards Tetra.

Glen did the same, noticing that the girl became completely enthralled by one particular carving at the end of the cave. It bore paint - unlike the others - that had long since been dulled by many years of facing the emptiness. It stood as tall as the ceiling itself, it was the meeting point of each individually drawn and heavily detailed lion that seemed to gravitate towards the being. The three stood in awe of it, each having to crane their necks just for a glimpse of its face and the insignia on its chest.

"Each lion is but a _piece_ of something bigger," Gino concluded, extending his hand to glide his fingers over the curves. "His name is Voltron. He was created and hailed as a symbol of peace throughout the cosmos."

 

**| | |**

_An unyielding sun, a restless blue sky, green hills, pristine white structures that glittered in the light. And with it, a voice. "Until we know more, until we can stand a chance against the Empire.... My love, this is the only way to protect--#%^-- The rest of us must trust that Voltron will return and go into hiding while we wait. My father and King--@ &#*$--were alies, so I refuse to let ourselves be beaten so easily. Not until we know the fate of our--&^&%@$--brothers and sisters. I don't know what happened to the Paladins or Alfor himself during my youth. I don't know what will happen to--%&$@$--but we must send them both away. Do you understand?"_

__

__

_"Ah, be silent, my king.." spoke another, "He stirs.."_

**| | |**

 

His voice was too weak for his own ears, but he was _certain_ he had spoke. What was it he said.... Glen tried again, stepping closer to the mural before him as he said, "I know...Voltron.." Gino stiffened on his left and Tetra lurched on his right, both roped in by that one little sentence. "I don't know how," the blond continued, "but I _know_ Voltron.. At least of him, but not much beyond that.." Extending out a hand of his own, he felt each defining groove of the carving under his fingertip, persisting as if the stone itself could explain the faint memory that now seemed to haunt him. Was it even his..? "How long has this been here?"

Slowly, cautiously, Gino responded first, drifting closer to his raven-haired companion. "It used to be a part of Zestian history," he said, "Someone carved these hieroglyphics with a powerful beam long before Zestia City was even a city at all, yet Voltron has not once set foot on our soils. I don't know why it's here, but..."

"There's a war going on, Gino. Tetra." Glen turned to face them, the more trained part of his mind warning him about divulging unnecessary information. However, it wasn't unnecessary at all. He was now an outcome of this very war, and if his experience told him anything, it was that Zestus was no longer safe. Those that attacked Earth were bound to come here as well; their prey had escaped their clutches once, and it would never happen again. "I need to get my ship up and running as soon as possible or else your home is doomed - do you understand me?" 

Though unintentional, the blonde's tone came off as threatening rather than as a warning. All he wanted was for them to _understand_ that there was a reason to be alarmed. It seemed as if the war had yet to reach this part of the universe but it wouldn't be long now. He knew, deep in his soul, that this "Empire" wasn't the ones that had first attacked him. Instead, it had been allies. For the Galra Empire--  
_'How do I know what their species is.. I've never properly encountered an alien race before now..'_  
\--to ally itself with another powerful group, it just didn't seem plausible.  
_'But why would I know that?'_  
All he could be certain of was that they were dangerous. Powerful, with an even more powerful fist to guide them at the helm of the Empire itself. Glen needed to do research - he needed to learn all he could about the enemy - before setting out for space again.

  


The duo had yet to speak. In fact, no one uttered a word for what felt like eternity. Gino ended up sighing a very loud, animated breath and scratching at the back of his head. "Man, this absolutely blows..." He behaved unbothered, unfazed by the bad news dropped on him about the prospects of war. Instead, he directed all attention to the timid girl beside him, tightly gripping her shoulder while brandishing a bold grin. Something deep within the brunette must've prompted such a reaction, however he never got the chance to vocalize it. Just as he opened his mouth to speak again, the ground beneath their feet shook viciously. It rumbled up the walls of the cave, shaking down dust from the ceiling and threatening them all with a cave-in.

"H-h-huh?!" Tetra was terrible at hiding her concern, her sweltering fear and her unyielding paranoia over the matter. She subconsciously came closer to Gino, looking around with frantic eyes. "What's g-going on..!" she cried, "Zestus doesn't _get_ earthquakes!"

Already, Glen feared the worst. He couldn't be bothered to spare them another moment, another detail about his initial circumstances before charging back for the tunnel. He needed to get back to the surface; he needed to see it for himself. Charging into the harsh light of day, the blonde shaded his eyes with his arms, turning his desperate stare to the dusty sky. At first, he couldn't see anything, yet the ground continued to shake under his feet. It wasn't until far beyond the Crash Zone that the atmosphere thundered with the entry of a large vessel, shockwaves rippling across the sky and dispersing the clouds. Now, unhindered in his sight, Glen's heart left his ribcage and sunk to the pits of his stomach.

Tetra and Gino emerged behind him, both freezing in their tracks at the sight of the cruiser. "What in Zestia's name is _that_?!" the brunette demanded. His question wasn't directed towards anyone in particular. The shadow of the invading cruiser - though still high up in the faintest reaches of the atmosphere - loomed down over only a fraction of the Crash Zone. With its general direction, no doubt did it point itself towards the main city.

 

Silently urging the two to join him, Glen hopped aboard the hover-cart still connected to the speeder. Tetra was hesitant though she willfully joined her companion when he climbed in front. They were quickly speeding back towards Zestia City, neither considering to make a detour at the Pluto's crash site. Didn't they even _consider_ the fact that it could help them?! It may not have powered up in a while but, deep down, Glen knew it still worked. It had to... Or else he was going to let another planet be utterly _destroyed_. 

As they neared the Pluto's location the blonde completely ditched the others. He sprung out of the cart, tucking himself into a roll so as to avoid substantial injury before coming back up at a run. Gino shouted for him from behind but he refused to listen. They didn't understand what was at stake here, so he had to make sure they didn't need to worry. Right? That was his duty, wasn't it? Why he was still alive..?

Glen slipped down the ditch with a supporting hand dragging against the slickened stone. He couldn't simply describe the adrenaline in his veins but, as regretful as he was to admit it, the soldier wasn't sure if it was for fight or for flight. Scrambling up the massive Pluto mech became quite the ordeal in and of itself, the metal hot against his palms from the sun and the edges sharp in his grip. Such a large mechanical body so deeply nestled into the ground... Would it really be able to take-off again? Would it really be able to fly?

The center chest plating had remained open since the last time he was there, making it easy to drop back into the cockpit with a sloppy landing. He lay himself down in the seat, his fingers curled into the natural grooves against the control sticks, and his legs extended forward, feet tapping against the thruster pedals beneath the dash. They clicked a few times with each step, but nothing changed inside or out of the cockpit. It was imperative that the Pluto became operational; the safety of Zestus depended on it.

 

Tetra had done all that she could - _whatever_ she could without being able to move the mech itself or actually be able to interact with the internal systems. Glen didn't want her efforts to be wasted but... If it wasn't going to operate, then there was nothing that could be done. He sunk deeper into his seat, hold on the control sticks limp as the ground continued to shake and the atmosphere continued to tear. His voice came out soft, a silent prayer to someone that didn't exist. Glen closed his eyes and hung his head, the words coming out in a drawled whisper, "Come on, Elias... Help me out here.. Please?"

The opened, interior shielding of the cockpit, the glass that reflected the rays of a distant sun, lit up the sky blue of a computer system. A whirring engine roared to life inside the confined space and, from the outside, there was the flicker of small blue lights: the eyes had responded. Completely thrown off by the sudden reboot, Glen's head flew back and his eyes snapped open. He wondered if it was the product of his imagination, however... It was working, that much was made _especially_ clear as fuzzy, distorted holographic projections rose into view of the pilot from its rightful place over the dash. These files and displays took a bit to restore to full shapes, filling up each section with information in each passing moment. 

Information on the main system popped up, information on the physical status emerged against the clutter, and soon two specifics things formed into view; a 2D grid with codes littering the surface to mark it, and a full form image of the Pluto, notes appearing in certain spots to point out issues and anything even remotely related. It took a moment for his brain to warm up to the foreign language he used to be familiar with - the characters and tones no one else on his team seemed to notice as being "foreign" - but when it did, pure elation made him forget about the situation at hand.

  


##### LULLABY SYSTEM REBOOTING

  


##### SYSTEM ONLINE: INITIATING RECHARGE SEQUENCE

  


The flickering lights of the eyes behind their broad visor stabilized, becoming brighter as it reached its full levels; the metal encasing limbs and joints creaked in protest, the mechanoid appearing to want to move even without being controlled. _This_ was the Pluto he missed. The right stick suddenly disengaged with a heavy clunk, the track it was on appearing to become smoother than before. It was a bit difficult to move - due to the external strain this crater had on the mechanoid - but soon Glen tilted it downward into a different gear and was pulling it closer to his person. Outside, the right leg shifted and groaned, expelling a storm of dusted steam from its knee. It lifted, it moved, but after quite a bit of unnatural rattling it fell flat against the planet's burned earth with a ground-shaking thud.

Immediately, things appeared to go south; the young pilot attempted to move the left stick, only to have the same result he did with the right leg. In an attempt to resolve the matter, Glen kept the left stick in the downward gear but moved the right stick into the top gear, moving the left back to him and twisting the right clockwise on its ball-pivot. The entire cockpit shifted to the left and spilled gathered dust from its cracks, the right side of the mechanoid's torso raising off of the ground like a normal person would by leading shoulder first. That too ended in failure, everything rocking back into place as the form continued to groan in protest. Glen, frustrated, tightened his grip on the control sticks until his knuckles turned a pearly white. "Dammit..." he swore, eyes closing tightly as he tried to keep as much of his composure as possible. One failed attempt at moving was nothing; if anything, it would've been strange if it did manage to cooperate right away.

Opening his eyes, he gazed at the images presented in front of him, trying to find one that'd help determine what was wrong. Time was of the essence - though he had briefly forgotten why. A hand raised, waving across the space in front of him and shifting the static displays the moment one caught his attention; the fuller image with its little notes. Brown eyes narrowed when they found what was wrong-- _'There's too much strain,'_ Glen silently reported, _'It can't move with things still as they are; even if I force it, it still can't. It's too...heavy..'_ Moments from desperately attempting to alleviate any tension at all, the control system chimed in.

  


##### MULTIPLE UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS APPROACHING AT ATTACK VELOCITY. BEGINNING DATA SCAN.

  


What? _What?!_ In moments, Glen was upright again, staring with wide eyes as the holographic projection grew in width to cover a wider area of sight. A coded image of Zestus appeared - at least the top left side of it, where both himself and Zestia City were located - then the vastness of space, a little blip focusing on some fuzzy mass that was rapidly approaching the planet. There was already a cruiser within Zestian airspace, but the shadow had only been of one.. This blip was still _beyond_ the atmosphere. Did that mean...more were coming..? While it greatly worried the pilot, nothing could compare to the panic he felt when it was properly identified.

  


##### DATA SCAN COMPLETE. LSF REGISTERED ENEMY FORCES SOON TO ENTER ATMOSPHERE.

  


Galran ships were never fully registered in the LSF's database - they were anomalies, few and far between considering how minute their numbers had been in comparison to the others - so the recognized threats could've only been those "others". Glen paled and the adrenaline fueled only the desire to run away. Zestus was doomed.


	6. LSF Planetary

They really did find him... They were coming for him... A long forgotten race, with nothing but a ghoul to lead their alien ranks. Those were the details of the primary attack fleet that proved to be far more threatening than a weaponized star. The one closing in on the planet now was much smaller and controlled by a Galran command cruiser, not as daunting but surely not something meant to be taken lightly. The sharp pointed bow of the leading vessel pierced through the immediate airspace, leading behind it the rest of the large violet-plated craft. Soon, black spots appeared beside it, each with a streamline to follow. The smaller vessels belonged to the H'orl invaders, and seeing them only revived the memories the soldier wanted to abandon. 

He wanted to run. Glen wanted nothing more than to escape and accept his fate as a damned coward. There was nothing he could do against the main forces when he had others along side him, and there was _definitely_ nothing he could do in the current state he was in now. Utterly useless.. He probably couldn't even escape correctly! But he could always hide in the desolate land beyond the planet's equator; he could ditch the Pluto build and escape.

Some soldier he turned out to be, considering survival over duty... If his father were still alive - if Earth were still alive - how would they all view him? Would they blame him for giving up or find it to be the better option? He had to survive, right? _For_ the existence of Earth?

 

"What are those things?!" a gruff voice shouted. It came much closer than it should've, sounding like it was practically next to Pluto's leg instead of somewhere on higher ground like it was supposed to be. 

Another responded, exclaiming, "Gino, look! They're heading for the city! Atty doesn't know-- No one knows!!"

Hadn’t they left already..?

"No, but..." Metal clanked with a new, clambering weight that drew closer and closer to the opened lid of the cockpit. "We gotta get out of here while we still can, then go help them ourselves!"

 

Glen jolted from his stupor, staring up at the now barren sky with widened eyes. He could hear it...could practically feel the brunette climbing up Pluto as if climbing up his own leg. Gino was coming up to reach him - he who contemplated abandonment over duty - so that they all, together, could protect the populous. No real obligation held him down, and fear should've made Tetra sound concerned for only herself and her companion. Yet, Gino took it upon himself to act while the raven haired girl worried for others above her own safety. Though it was against the unknown, they still were acting.

A soldier... He was a soldier... Even if Gino didn't know it, even if Tetra didn't know it - Even if the whole cosmos didn't know it, he was a soldier. The two teenage Zestians had saved his life and his only beacon of hope; if anything, he wanted to return the favor as best he could. So, sitting complacently like this in the safey of his cockpit was no longer an option. He heard the hesitation Gino had when he stopped at the waist of the mecha, looking for another route up that allowed him some kind of grip. "Gino, listen to me," Glen said quickly, his voice somehow remaining strong and steady despite his previous unease, "You two need to get out and clear away from the crater. Get home as fast as you can, stay out of sight and as far from these monsters as you can manage."

"Hah?!" huffed the brunette, voice loud and clear, "And just _leave_ you here?!"

"I'm going to defend Zestus!" Silence. The blond promptly followed by saying, "I need you guys to get someplace safe so that I don't need to worry about you."

After a moment of blatant hesitation - one that took much longer than it should've - Gino sounded wistful and distant, carefully climbing back down to solid ground. "Let's get going, Tetra. We're needed elsewhere."

"B-but... Glen!" Scuffling, feet kicking up dirt. Didn't either of the two notice the impending fleet about to lay siege to their city? "Y-you are coming back home, r-right? Aren't you!"

The blond wore a rather apologetic smile he knew they wouldn't see. As he listened to them scramble back out of the crater and rev the engine of the speeder, for a moment, Glen wished he could've respond in a more appropriate way, to make it easier on Tetra's little head. He settled back into the seat, hands coming down on the control sticks. "Sorry, Tetra. Gino.." he replied, directing his attention forward as the blue, holographic projection changed its display completely, "I won't be heading back with you guys. Maybe... Maybe later." Wishful thinking. It wouldn't happen - not in this lifetime, but perhaps in the next.

The projection had shifted from clustered information about systems operations to displays of power levels, system statuses, and, presented in the middle of the view, was a single word in a rectangular box;

##### D I S E N G A G E 

The opened shielding started coming down. It proceeded to lock into place, expelling jets of pressurized steam until it was completely set and even filtering out the dust that had collected over the past few weeks, almost blending in perfectly with the other plating as a crisp white protruding piece of the main body. Like this, no one would even guess that there was a pilot in the mechanoid's chest. As for the mechanoid itself, any restrictions that it may have had moments before disappeared, the joints rattling the same way a tree did in the presence of a titan.

 

Glen felt the bracing straps come in from over his shoulders, crossing over his chest and locking him down. Through the monitor view in front of him, he could still see Tetra and Gino gathered on the lip of the crater - even if they couldn't see him - and that sort of fueled his determination. _'Hopefully they get a kick out of this.'_

The pilot gingerly extended his hand forward, tapping the invisible disengage button. Inside the cockpit, a brief countdown started and ended in the blink of an eye, the entire station jolting forward. His projections split in half, moving out of his direct field of sight and allowing him only a view of the black-marred sky. Systems whirred to a more energetic life, tapping into the Planetary Lullaby - that was the name he had given the center piece. Fitting, he always thought.

**_Disengage._ **

Outside of the cockpit, final expulsions of steam left the pieces of the Pluto, appearing to break apart in its _proper_ pieces - or at least loosen - before it was nudged free of the charred earth. The temperature rose, a heatwave radiating off of the ground as the entire humanoid form seemed to rise off of its back for a short moment. In the time it took for the Zestians to hold their breath, all of those pieces previously explored and repaired by the raven haired girl disengaged from a smaller machine deep within it. With controls in the middle gear, Glen shoved them forward and slammed his feet on both thruster pedals.

Every piece that had disengaged dropped back to the earth, a new mechanoid blasting skyward; it was virtually unscathed from everything it had been through, twisting in the blue air as it fully powered up. Soon it hovered in midair, the glow of green eyes shining brightly behind a green visor even in the light of the foreign sun. Its pilot allowed the duo a single, deep look before the thrusters in its back ignited, blasting the craft towards the city that was currently under siege.

  


Not a single projection interrupted his view, letting the familiar sight of distorted ships entering the space above a populated area fuel the fire in his chest. It wasn't as big or as daunting as the invasion on Earth, but Glen knew that just this little fire force would be 100% capable of wiping out Zestia City. Now that he had collected himself and no longer panicked over the numbers, he could assume such an outcome with unyielding certainty. He circled for a vantage point over the city's tall buildings, racking his brain for anything that might help in this one-man assault. On one hand, the composition of the onyx dipped aliens allied with the Galra hated the energy reverberations of Planetary's blades; on the other, they were quite fast. Down below, a whole team of police and uniformed combatants lined up as a blockade to defend the city.

The Galran cruiser coasted over the streets, small fighters launching from their docks and sentries dropping down to join the rising clamor. Actual soldiers had yet to be distributed for their own part of the invasion, but he wondered if that was because the Zestus population was condensed into one area. They wouldn't _need_ to fan out for control. Scowling, the pilot allowed a projected display to take up a corner of his sight. With a few words, the LSF's interface was linking with the one in use down on the surface. Soon a flurry of voices and commands bounced around the cockpit, one in particular questioning the sudden signature of a new system.

"This is Officer James of Earth's Lullaby Stasis Force," he announced with a clear voice, falling back into that strong shell the sudden war had brought about, "Please evacuate all citizens if you haven't already; the enemy is strong enough to wipe out this entire city."

A few voices instantly started shouting in opposition, one very husk and demanding as he started making sudden accusations of the human, calling him a prankster or even one of the enemy. Glen didn't even get a chance to speak before a new voice was added to the mix, silencing the rest. "This is Sergeant Atticus Holland of the Zestian CS," the voice introduced themselves as, "I take it you're the giant...person flying through our skies and blocking our air traffic, right?"

 

Just their tone made Glen respect them, giving a quick "Yes sir" before turning his head - and the head of the Planetary - toward the street. He caught view of an old man that could've been in his seventies Earth-wise, standing with a hand on his hip and a flat-faced communicator in the other. The way he held himself, standing in the front lines without any real defense gave Glen a sense of age and strength that this individual seemed to possess. This...Atticus Holland character. For a moment, Sergeant Holland’s gaze locked with that of the Planetary and a brief connection was made, one that resulted in a statement from the authoritative man;

"Listen here," Atticus declared, his voice crisp in the pilot's ear, "I've got two problematic daughters to protect, James. If trusting you causes something to happen to them, I will personally tear you and your ship apart."

A chill shot up Glen's spine, making him cringe away in his seat. While part of him expected Atticus to be a bit scared of him and his vessel, the calmness and indifference expressed towards the craft was totally startling. He made a mental note, _'A man not to be crossed...'_ Planetary nodded its head in their mutual understanding and diverged its attention towards the leading Galran cruiser. Sergeant Holland would have to handle the H'orl invaders - sickly looking parasites that seemed to be mere shadows of other species - while Glen maintained the attention of the commanding center craft. One ship against his highly capable, lighter model... Shouldn't be too difficult.

The blonde's eyes widened as he saw the ship lower further over the main road, continuing forward as a impossibly powerful beam charged in the canon on its nose. Zestians panicked, trying to use methods of protection to not only ensure their safety but that of the nearby civilians as well. Glen, however, saw his opening; he shoved the right control stick forward and pulled the left back, the entire mechanoid spinning like a turbine as it blazed toward the ground. Pulling back on the right, he felt the surge of energy pulsate against his seat as the Glide kicked in.

 

The triangular shaped frame upon the mechanoid's back - part of the broad shoulders, small wing-like fins, and the extra armor lining over its back - glittered with the light of Zestus' distant sun, particles soon interlocking with one another before a pulsating, red energy field filled the base. Thrusters shut down, all power and propulsion drawn from the high-energy Glide. The Planetary coasted over the officers before disconnecting the Glide, Glen bringing back the left arm to catch the handle-like connector at the back of the energy field - the part that lined up the Planetary's spine. Landing with a thud on its feet, the Planetary braced itself and put the condensed particle barrier in front of it.

Then the beam fired, not attempting to change their tactic nor their aim. Surely, whoever led the vessel must've wagered that their ion canon would be marginally stronger than this small defense. Almost all of the energy fired was immediately trapped in the confines of the Glide’s field, absorbed and reissued as strong energy for the Planetary's reserves. Particle barriers didn't _naturally_ absorb nor convert energy like this, making the Glide a special case. Glen knew how it worked - at least, he was certain he did - but something told him Earth never figured it out. Returning the Glide to his back and allowing the triangular base to collapse back in on itself, both mechanoid and pilot tensed in preparation, eyeing the advancing cruiser and the oncoming aliens that surged the city by way of sky and earth. He had to attack, he had to take the offense; simply defending would end in catastrophe.

Glen's thumb tapped against the button situated atop the right control stick's tip. A side projection displayed the starting sequence for the Planetary's close ranged weapon, right hand reaching and drawing the blade from the base of the Glider. As soon as it was brandished offensively in front of the metal body, it's edge glowed red and gave a pulse of energy. Its reverberation would tear apart the parasitic composition of his enemies and the small fighters the Galra flew, the energy they themselves had fired upon him being the means of their destruction; just as it had done countless times before.

Like before, he pushed both control sticks forward, the Planetary charging towards the first ground-leveled fleet ship just like an armed person would. As he got within range, Glen shifted the right stick into the top gear, pulling it back swiftly; the mechanoid responded by swinging the sword in front of it. He just needed to destroy as much as he could of these enemy forces. Whenever it would turn out to be too much, that was when Glen would leave and take the H'orl forces with him. For now, he returned to the air and engaged the enemy, drawing their fire away from the populous.

|=|


	7. Blueprints

Tetra felt the grip on her collar before she even realized Gino was reaching behind himself. Hoisted up like a small cat, the brunette threw himself and the girl off of the speeder as it went rocketing into a congregation of lumbering, lurching aliens. They got out unscathed but Tetra couldn't tell what part of her body actually belonged to her and what part belonged to the earth. Aliens with drooping, ragged wings zipped overhead; those with the high-arched spine of a bunfelder beast (a local, predatory species that lived along the equator) and more legs than a decahound marched through the streets. Gino forced them into an alley between buildings, neither truly able to get home like they were told.

Just when the other tried to pull her along after him, the raven startled even herself with how stubbornly her legs had rooted themselves to the ground. Concerned, Gino looked her over, waiting for an explanation. "These...these aliens came and..." Tetra found herself muttering, her head hanging and her straight-cut bangs dangling over her eyes. "And Glen's out fighting them on his own... He told us to come back here, and stay inside..!" Though her legs shook, though she couldn't tell which direction the fighting came from, she wanted to help their new friend in some way. Yet, she didn't know how they would be able to accomplish that. Neither Zestian knew what these invaders were capable of. Neither understood how far they had come in technology, or what their weaknesses were. 

And, on top of that, the girl was just plain terrified. No matter how brave she wanted to at least _pretend_ to be, putting up a façade wasn't on her resume. For stopping them amidst the chaos... Was Gino mad..? Tetra gambled a glance upward, just in time to watch the concern on his features shift to wild, frenzied alarm. "Get down!" he roared, shoving her towards the ground with a hand on the shoulder while reeling back his fist. It looked like he was just aiming for the wall at her back - at nothing. As usual, Tetra listened to the brunette without hesitation.

She all but fell to the ground, covering her head with her arms and crossing her legs at the ankle. And she did so just in time. Tucking her knees into her chest, the girl sought to make herself take up as little space as she could. As per usual when the raven was surprised, a squeak escaped her when the building they sought shelter behind completely _exploded_.

 

An onyx, dripping form crashed down as if from the inside of the building, moaning like the dead as it made to crush the two of them. Good thing the brunette was prepared for the danger, because a heavy punch served as the duo's shielding, slamming into the soft, lowered head of a very monstrous form. With so much force behind the attack, the shockwave of the connection threw the chunks of heavy debris in every which way. The mess that had attacked them, wheezing and falling limp over the jagged edge of the building, looked like a primitive human, large in height and weight but not so much in length, oozing from sockets that could've only been the home of eyes.

Even though her spot had been a safe one during this event - merely a coincidence - that didn't mean that it would remain so the entire time. The moment she was sure that nothing else was going to fall on them from above, Tetra hurriedly untangled herself. As both a habit and as a precaution, the teenager immediately darted behind Gino. Her fingers curled around the back of his shirt, making it so that she was grasped onto him with every fiber in her being. 

A bit of nausea appeared at the sight of the thing that her partner had hit. It was foreign and freaky and... just plain wrong. Even without the physical appearance, Tetra really didn't like the thing. Its seemingly expressionless face _screamed_ that it didn't want to be alive, the faint, creaking rasps leaving its equivalent of a throat making her skin tingle. She didn't know what kind of aliens existed out there, but she had to wonder; was this thing even a species..?

 

Gino looked over the girl for a moment, even going so far as to put a hand against the side of her face - as if to make sure she was truly a-okay before he took her hand. "Time to go," Gino told her, quickly pulling her along as he hopped right over the stone chunks. In such a short amount of time, the neighborhood streets were in complete dissary. Everything, one way or another, was completely wrecked but it was fixable. Totally fixable.. Everything could be fixed, right?

The brunette led Terra around this way and that, until a horde of alien creatures stopped their advancement and forced the two to take a different path. Gino led the whole time, the raven unable to do more than drag her feet. Eventually, the remains of fallen structures became familiar; they were actually heading back to their house! Deep down, Tetra would eve go so far as to say that she was disappointed in the appointed course of action her companion decided to take. He was brash, he was selfless - he couldn't have been _willingly_ choosing to go the safe route, right?

His hand slipped from her own. "Stay here - I'll be three ticks at most," he said before disappearing into the collapsed metal crate that had served as their house for many years. Tetra didn't know what hurt her more; the state of her home or the fact that she was actually left _alone_ in the war zone. Practically coming to her rescue in _less_ than the three ticks he promised, Gino exploded back into view with a folded white bodysuit curled around his fingers and Glen's helmet hanging in his grip, just in time for the Planetary to land in the main road. They watched, awestruck, as the smaller-bodied mech - a more vivid red than the Pluto without as much white, blockier instead of smooth and rounded - lifted his compressed particle barrier in anticipation. As much as she wanted to watch, Tetra never got to see the outcome.

 

They were running again, further and further towards the outer reaches of Zestia City. She was already aware that their home was under attack. However, the gravity of the situation didn't really hit her until the raven saw the state of their city. Then, it slammed into her harder than the Pluto slammed into Zestus. Never, ever, had she seen something so devastating. No form of entertainment had allowed her to witness a scene such as the one that was laid out before her her. While many had come close, the real thing was just so much more frightening. They never accurately depicted what it was like to see your favorite eatery in ruins, see the people who welcomed you with opened arms trapped under rubble. Her first home ever - much later in her life, even more recent of a change than the days spent in the orphanage on Zestus' south end - lay in ruins. Tetra's eyes tracked several of the aliens as they passed by, causing chaos with every step that they took. It was truly horrifying, and without Gino dragging her along, she surely would've been frozen in one spot. 

As they moved away from the centralized attack, her movements felt more dream-like. While still running behind the brunette, she could barely feel a thing. Her legs all but ceased to exist, and many loud sounds just kind of faded into a continuous ringing that wouldn't stop. It got so bad that she couldn't even feel Gino holding onto her. The teenager could still see everything, but all sound and feeling just sort of reduced itself to a state of numbness. She would wake up soon...

The ground trembled beneath the duo's feet, quickly approaching onyx hordes stampeding down the road behind them; there were others in the air as well, screeching in glee at the sight of prey. Suddenly, the brunette whirled around and grabbed Tetra by the shoulders, startling her out of her trance and looking dead into those sage eyes of hers. "I don't ask you to do much for me," Gino said, keeping a strong tone as their situation grew more urgent with each passing moment, "but for right now, I need you to trust in yourself and your abilities." From his jacket, he took out a singular blueprint and pressed it between Tetra's hands.

 

Then, Tetra was aware of everything. Her hearing returned to normal and her nerves began working overtime; warning her about even the smallest thing that touched her skin. And, because of this sudden change, her surprise was only amplified. She clung to every word that the brunette said, and couldn't bring herself to give a single sound of protest. Gino was trusting her with something. Something important. No matter how afraid she was, the girl knew that she had to go through with it. The male had protected her and had supported her from the moment that they had met back at the orphanage. He had never failed her, so there was absolutely no reason why she should or could fail him. 

When the blueprint was unfolded, there rested the design of a _massive_ ship but not very many details about what it needed. The title on the top of the blueprint read a singular name; Snare. "Just imagine it," the brunette continued, giving a grin of encouragement, "You can do it, I know you can." He released her and turned towards the oncoming parastitic monstrosities and armored sentries, giving a quick salute. "It'll be my early birthday present, okay? You doing this."

Nodding silently, she found herself running in the opposite direction. Away from the chaos, towards a place that would hold pretty much all of the parts that she would need; the lip of the crash zone, connected by one of many bridges. It only took one glance at the blueprint for the girl to understand. And, as she ran, Tetra found herself listing off what she would use for each part - whatever she _could_ use, even if it wasn't immediately at her disposal. "Snare" was a big project, the biggest that she had to take on, even including her repairs on the Pluto. And, to top it off, she had a very short amount of time to do it. 

Still, if Gino thought that she could do it, then it must be possible. 

 

The more she stared at it, the more she doubted her own abilities. The "Snare" was much too big for her to complete in her small window of time, not to mention complicated. The fact that Gino wasn't an engineer and didn't label a damn thing actually _wasn't_ why she was so unnerved by the whole thing. Her first thought was that it would probably take months to create; and, judging by the alien invasion that was currently underway, she didn't have that sort of time. Over and over again, the words "I can't" bounced around her head. It was impossible to stop them, or to turn her thoughts away from the phrase. It was just impossible. There was no way that her and her flimsy abilities could create such a machine on their own. She would need Glen, Gino, and probably a whole planet's worth of mechanics to even hope to complete it in a week. 

Drawing in a deep, shaky breath, the raven glanced at the wreckage behind her. There looked to be barely enough materials, but only time would tell whether or not there would be enough wires and chips that were still intact. She would need supplies far beyond her unsupported reach, and no time to gather them. Continuing to doubt herself, Tetra turned her attention to the city that was in front of her. Hell only seemed to be rising, and it looked like Glen wouldn't be able to hold off the enemy much longer. Which was why she had to at least try... 

"I've got this..." 

With that thought, she immediately jumped into work. The blueprint slipped from her hands and was thrown up into the air by a sweltering torrent of wind; the source of which being the circlet of pressure gathering around her. Tetra brought her hands out in front of her, resting one over the other with her palms faced downward. Even if it was impossible to build the Snare in such a short window of time, then at least she would've tried her best. Facing Gino later on would be much easier knowing that she had tried and failed, rather than just gave up before starting. There was no way that the teenager could pull off the latter. Not without trying to run away so that the male would never have to see her pathetic face again. 

 

Tetra closed her eyes and blocked out all of the events around her. She would need every ounce of concentration; worrying about her friends would only slow down the process. She tried to focus on her breathing, on her energy. A familiar tugging sensation started up in her gut. The pieces of "junk" yards behind her began to shift, encroaching in on her position. It started off as a slow event, but the pieces quickly sped up in order to complete the job. They circled around her, creating a cyclone of metallic parts spurred on by the pressure around her. Many pieces broke off from the tornado, and shot to a different part of the junkyard; gradually melding together to form the ship that was drawn out on the blueprint. The longer she kept this up, the stronger the tugging sensation became. Even far off in the _unexplored_ recesses of the Crash Zone half a planet away, broken machines came to meet her. 

No, she didn't know the scale of what she was constructing. No, she didn't know what parts put themselves together or where they originated from. Tetra didn't know, truly, what the Snare even was. 

By the time that she was barely halfway finished, it was too painful for her to stand. Even so, the raven refused to slow her efforts. She was getting the job done fast. No matter how painful it became, she had to keep going. Even if she died in the process... As long as the Snare was finished, Zestus would be able to go on; the Snare was exceedingly detrimental to its survival and she knew it. Glen or Gino would come along to drive it, and their home would be saved. At least, that was the mindset that the girl was functioning on. 

Parts gathered above her at the peak of the cyclone, constructing the Snare from the bottom up with no regard for the support beams of the bridges or the ecosystem in the murky water below. Whatever stood in reminder of Zestia City was already dwarfed by a half-completed vessel. Yes, even if it killed her... Tetra was going to _finish_ the job. The circlet of pressure took on a sage glow that enveloped her entire form, outlining each haggard feature that made up who she was.

 

Finally, it was finished, and she was utterly exhausted. Tetra's skin became visibly paler than she normally was, the bags under her eyes becoming alarmingly dark. She was shaking as well, sweat dampening her hair and clothing so that it stuck to clammy skin. The girl's breaths came out so ragged and labored that it came as quite the pleasant surprise that her lungs were even functioning. It was difficult for her to even move at that point. The "tugging" had diminished considerably the moment that she had stopped using her ability, but the pain still lingered. "She looked like Death" was probably the only phrase that could come close to describing how she looked. 

It hovered just a pace behind her, its flat-faced front angled slightly downward as if gazing upon its creator. Its length was practically double that of the bridges - equating to roughly a fourth of the city itself - but seemed capable of matching the cruiser in size. Perhaps it was bigger, perhaps it was twice as wide. Tetra couldn't tell. Still, an excited grin managed to make its way onto her pained expression upon looking up at the completed Snare. This was it; the fruit of her labor, the peak of her existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want art? Want to see these children? Let me know if you have a preference and I will. Just need motivation for drawing lol.


	8. To the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see. Don't know how many people are interested in this - if any - but I felt inclined to keep going.
> 
> Season eight didn't suck too bad (don't @ me)  
> But we'll be fine.

Wave after wave of the combined Galran-H'orl forces lay waste to Zestia City, making it past the singular defense that was the Planetary Lullaby. Even so, the pilot was doing everything he could to keep people from being killed and the planet from being destroyed like his own was. The entire LSF _team_ fell to the might of the main H'orl forces, so a strength like this was inevitably going to crush Glen and his machine. With every foe slain, three more would take its place, striking the mechanoid relentlessly. Glen's uncovered head slammed back into the headrest, filling his eyes with ditzy stars; the system locked up and the Planetary fell to the ground, crushing an already ruined building under the massive weight of its chest. Overhead, fighters continued to zip past, firing beams of energy at the ground-level defenders - mere enforcers of law, not built for galactic threats - and tearing through the streets.

There was very little he could do... Gritting his teeth, the human let a growl tear from his throat as all of him - mech included - swung an arm back and up, grabbing onto the hull of an over-passing craft. It lifted him up out of the debris by just a small amount, unable to keep up with the burdening weight. Once he was as clear of obstructions as he could be, the thrusters in the legs kicked in, overpowering the fighter. Both shot upward, away from the city before the Planetary stabbed its blade through the belly of the ship. An explosion rocked the cockpit, pelting it with sharp debris and waves of noxious smoke. Thankfully he was safe, tucked away in his tightly sealed package.

Glen had to circle around, swinging his blade back and forth in attempts to clear the sky of aerial invaders. There was just so many of them that it was almost impossible to keep up! Muttering a swear, Glen turned his head and that of the mechanoid, allowing a view of the Galran ship. It was no doubt the commanding vessel of this whole attack force; and its path had changed from the middle of the city to Glen's general direction.

 _'Good...'_ he thought to himself, unable to keep a wounded half-smile from his lips. There was no telling how much longer he would've lasted otherwise, so now that he knew the main commander finally registered him as legitimate prey - recognized as a past quarry, perhaps - he only had to escape the atmosphere. A few taps over the side panel just over the left control stick had a status update of the Pluto build popping up for inspection.

  


##### System Standby

  


This display would remain in place until the very last second when he'd need it, the Planetary doing a swoop around a towering building before bursting off towards the ship. Only thing interrupting him was a message spoken by the system.

  


##### LARGE MASS DETECTED.  
UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY SIGNATURE DETECTED

  


A new image popped up before his eyes, one that had his jaw dropping and his eyes threatening to pop from its sockets; a raven haired girl with a small storm of metal parts and machinery compiling around her. Something massive, far larger than the view could allow, soon filled the space and Glen was left with nothing to see. What the hell was she- was _Tetra,_ doing?! He had no idea, and only wished he knew. His attention shifted back toward the cruiser before ANOTHER thing caught his attention from the streets below. Streams of black were charging down a singular road, flowing in the direction of the unidentified mass Tetra was responsible for. Something kept them from advancing past a certain point, and once again Glen was in a state of shock. A blaze of olive green with a top of red was laying waste to the oncoming parasitic creatures and mechanical sentries with guns as if they were nothing more than twigs of a tree; every kick, every lunge, every swing and every punch had them spilling to the ground, even falling from the air as Gino ceased their advancement.

"These people are crazy..." the blond muttered to himself. Crazy was the only way he could really describe any of it, doing his best to tear his gaze away and focus on the beef of the situation. But then things took a horrid turn. Something had come from the shadows, rising up like the monster it was and raising a jagged hand. Gino didn't see it, hardly even aware of this new presence as he continued to fight on. The points of the jagged hand thickened and grew even sharper, the limb reeling back in preparation to strike. Glen couldn't do anything from where he was, a sense of dread slamming into his throat as the monster struck the spry yet elderly body of Sergeant Fulton that suddenly stood in the way. The Planetary's hand reached for the injured man but it couldn't do anything.

  


It broke his heart to see the shift in balance from his place in the air. The green of Gino and the white of Fulton were quickly overrun in a sea of black, but if Glen tried to save them, he could very well cause them both fatal injury with his weapon or his size. Eventually, the masses were forced back, trickling forward occasionally when the brunette, in his enraged frenzy, couldn't maintain his attacks.

Glen's priority was the cruiser... It was the _cruiser_ , the one responsible for the H'orl's attack, that he should've concerned himself with. The Planetary didn't move and neither did he, both stuck in a state of indecision. 

 

Time stopped when the massive, dull-gray plated vessel constructed only moments ago loomed over the battle. The glass shielding of the upper command deck glowed a soft magenta, casting a curtain of light over the immediate area. H'orl, Galra, Zestian, and mech alike were frozen in awe. It was impossible to look away until the black sea of foes parted directly in the middle, forced to separate by the new onslaught from Sergeant Fulton's unit. This cleared a path for Gino who, with obvious hesitance, charged straight for the craft.

Glen and the Planetary swung back around, connecting the blade in his hand to the separated Glide on his shoulders. He brandished his shield for all to see, letting wave after wave of energy pulse outward in an endless tide. Now, it was a matter of diverting all attention back to him. This would be his final stand on Zestus.

|=|

There was so much regret laced through his actions with every lunge he took. He hated to leave the old man behind, he hated to flee, yet nothing stopped him now. Hanging his head, it took all Gino had to keep moving until he reached the powered Snare. Tetra - despite being away from the battle - looked to be in complete tatters, far worse for wear than Gino himself was. He knew and understood the strain that she underwent each time she constructed something, but this was of a bigger scale... If anything, she was a dead man walking.

There was no time to waste.

He snagged onto her arm and pulled her with him, preparing his voice for the one phrase he needed. Though Terra constructed it, it had been of Gino's temporal design; time for a surprise that may get the life back into the raven. "Snare, online!" Instantly, the whir of internal systems and engines grew to a roar, thundering against the ground and pounding through the air. It _responded._

"Open crew loading bay!"

In the center of the underbelly, a wide hatch opened up and dispensed a connected ramp, white light beaming down in anticipation. Gino pulled his companion closer to him, and up the ramp they went. He pulled her through halls and staircases, traveling through a fast moving elevator until it opened to a singular hallway. Racing down, it opened up into something... Far more massive; the control station. The hub. Command central for all of it. 

The perfect place for the captain.

 

Gino slowed his pace and shouldered as much of the weight as he could, taking Tetra up the steps and past empty control stations. In the very front of the hub, against the glass that allowed a large view of everything, was an empty stage save for the circular space in the middle. He took Tetra to this very spot and set her down, kneeling before her as the thunders of attacks rumbled through the wall.

"Are you okay?" he asked, tone calm and collected as if the possible end of their world WASN'T at hand. He inspected every inch of her, brow furrowed in concern; even though _he_ was the one with blatant injuries and stains of blood from his cautionless rampage, every movement he made suggested he was fine... "Are you hurt? How are you holding up? Can you hear me?"

A shaky chuckle escaped the girl's lips at the questions. "Heh... Sorry, I guess I blacked out there for a moment..." That was a total understatement, but it would do no good to make the raven answer honestly. "I'm fine, honest. Jus' a bit... A little tired." 

With moves that were a bit more sluggish and hesitant than usual, Tetra glanced around their surroundings. Despite her being the one to create it, she hadn't really taken the time to see what the Snare was like on the inside. It wasn't like either of them had the luxury of time, anyways. Honestly, the raven was more than surprised at the appearance of the command hub. She was trapped in a state of awe; the fact that she had created such a wonder in the short amount of time that she had no doubt added to the shock. "Woah..." the girl squeaked. "We're gonna use this against them?"

He smiled softly, giving her head a light pat. "Something like that," the brunette responded, soon rising back to his feet. Gino turned to face the outside, becoming more serious now as the advancement of aliens came ever closer, the blasts of Glen's battle raging on in the distance. They...they may only have one chance at this, he wasn't too sure about what they'd be able to manage but... Well, when he started to doubt things, Atticus' body was the only thing to fill his mind. Sore fists clenched and the Zestian was forced to breathe, exhaling a deep sigh before taking in one last breath.

  


"Snare system standby!" he barked, hand raised in front of him, "Manual controls engage!"

From the ceiling dropped a sort of crane-like contraption, bringing with it a piece of head gear that otherwise would've waited patiently in the overhead until it was called. Gino placed it on around the back of his head, letting it come over his ears and poke into his sight. A bloodied hand rose over the right ear, fingers extended slightly so that the tips lightly grazed the metal surface. Strangely enough, everything about him _felt_ calm, maybe strong; even though he could've sworn he saw hell not even ten minutes ago. He leaned forward with the next call, a holographic teal displaying-band stretched from one end of the head gear to another.

"System start!"

Everything within the hub and beyond lit up with new light, holographic and physical screens booting up around the hub and in front of empty seats. Down in the wide, circular shaft sanctioned in the center of the hub, a blue light shined out, other systems kicking on within the lower levels of the craft. A magenta light started around the circle in which the duo resided in, the initial ignition dying down to a simple fluctuating glow. Then a voice spoke; for Tetra, it would clash with the more masculine, monotone voice of the Pluto.

#####  _System Online._

  


Female - though just as monotone. Gino looked over his shoulder and down at the raven, plastering a smile onto his lips. "Pay attention," he informed her, "because I don't have the same brain power as you." His not having the same capabilities served as a problem, but he knew that Tetra and the Snare were already connected; the glow emanating from their magenta ring was undoubtedly alleviating some of the strain the raven was feeling on her mind. That was how Gino intended it after all.. When it would eventually come down to it, Tetra wouldn't even need the head gear he did. She was just that synced.

He waved his hand in front of him, holographic displays rising up around their ring for a full 360 degree coverage of everything with nothing covering the glass. "Thrusters ignite!" Gino called out, the ship rumbling with the burst of energy. The Snare left its stationary spot over the ground in that very moment, rising up over the city as a physical leviathan. Pointing forward, a new display rose before him and now the Snare was progressing forward, the grounded enemy forces shrieking as the high-powered thrusters from below the ship burned them away. 

A new display popped up, one to the left of the center one, that showed visual of a red mech smaller than the Pluto. For Gino, however, he saw all the information about it from the registry code and name, to the pilot's status and that of separated pieces. Nodding his head, hands flew over holographic displays, feverishly putting in information and commanding different things all in one rush. Next thing you know, he's opening his mouth yet again:

"Link start!"

#####  _Linking, please standby._

  


In moments, another display had risen to the surrounding space - from behind this time - and communication status, responsive status, and vessel status all popped up under a singular name. And this name? LSF Planetary.  
"Glen, can you hear me?"

"Wha-- Gino?!"

They were connected. Gino scowled as he examined the visible features of the blonde, from the ashen bruising on his skin to the blood trickling from a wound under his bangs. It was good thing he saved the helmet and suit, huh? "What're you doing?" Glen demanded, "How are you-- Where are you?!"

Before Gino could respond, the connection went fuzzy and he watched from a distance as a beam fired from the commanding ship shattered through the Glide's particle barrier and struck the Planetary square in the chest, electricity filling the confined space. Glen was left to the mercy of the system, crying out in pain as control was almost lost. _Almost._

Once falling out of the sky, he was soon blasting backward and toward the signal of the Snare, the control ship following close behind. Keeping an eye closed - as he had yet to fully recover - he gazed rather weakly through their projection. "What in Thea's name happened to you..?" Glen huffed out, lungs aching with each breath, "You look like shit..."

"As if you're one to talk," the brunette countered with a light smirk. Suddenly in the position they were in, it felt natural to simply sass each other back and forth; but this wasn't the time for that. Taking on a stern expression, Gino's eyes narrowed. "What do you plan on doing when you can't win?"

"I can--"

"You can't. I already have current-time data on your craft, so unless you want it to break, you're planning something."

 

After a moment of hesitation, it became clear that avoiding a proper answer wouldn't work: "Escape." Glen brought up a display - a window shared with all connected parties - and it was soon presented before the Zestians. It shifted with each note he made, as if emphasizing his point. "Back where I crashed," he explained, "the pieces of the Pluto have been charging."

"Pieces..?" Gino repeated with a wary tone.

"Yeah.. This model you see was the main deal before space became a battle ground-" Glen shook his head before quickly getting on with his main argument. "Anyways, once I know for a fact these guys are coming after me no matter what, I'm going into space again and jumping as far as I can manage with the state my equipment is in." 

No, that wasn't a plan at all. Gino was unable to hide his distaste at such a stupidly selfless, half-heartedly thought out gameplan. His arms crossed - sore, aching, and definitely knicked against the bone - over his chest. It didn't seem like anything he _could_ say would change the blond's decision, but he didn't want to let it happen. Essentially, Glen had signed his death warrant. Before any attempt could be made in hopes of at least swaying his mind, their conversation was abruptly interrupted by Tetra. She had by that point propped herself up on shaking hands, sage eyes filled with clouds as they stared wistfully at the image of Glen. "But... What about after..?" she asked, "What happens when the Pluto can't go any farther?" 

At Tetra's question - and after he took notice of her, of course - Glen allowed a chuckle to escape past his lips. Hanging his head lightly out of exhaustion, his shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "Energy shouldn't be that big of an issue," he explained, "It can charge endlessly thanks to the faint star lights, but it won't be very strong. _Mechanically_ if it can't go any further, then I put up one last fight and see what happens after that." Though it was considerably grim, he spoke as if it was nothing. Without even knowing it, maybe the use of his youth in the war prepared him for this... Who could say, really.

Planetary drew closer to the massive craft and his jaw visibly dropped, amazed by the sheer size and suddenness of the Snare's appearance. Such a reaction made the brunette want to laugh. Thanks to the projected video feed, he would even see that Gino was in command but that didn't seem to lessen his shock. Eventually shaking his head, the blond narrowed his eyes and focused on the other. "So?" he asked, "What are you planning?"

 

A grin stretched across the Zestian's lips and he extended a hand to the side. "Adventure and exploration," he responded, "I'm gonna show Tetra everything the universe has to offer. It was the plan all along, but this was the perfect moment." Truth be told, that really had been his goal; maybe not all at once as they had to during this hour, but still... He wanted to let Tetra see more than just their home world. Perhaps it was a bit wishful, but working towards wishes got him as far as he was now. Gino saw how considerably skeptical Glen was, but was grateful for the lack of questioning. Thinking right now was stupid, that's why he only relied on those primitive instincts so specific to him. 

A spherical display formed before the extended hand, marking four blimps across its gridded surface; two close to each other, one a bit farther back, and one farther down near the middle line. This was the Snare, the Planetary, the main attack force of the invaders, and the Pluto's pieces. They were all mapped out and shared with the additional party. Gino became serious once more, extended hand coming to rest on the side of his visor. "Listen up," he ordered, "We're coming with you, and you're coming with us."

"What?! Gino, that's--"

"We've got the skills to keep your ship alive," he went on, appearing totally uninterrupted as he absorbed the information streamed through the holographic display encasing his eyes, "You're not doing this alone, Glen. I want to be a hero too."

That was the lighthearted and jovial explanation; truth was that he didn't want to lose anyone else he might've known, including the random alien dude that caused this all to happen. He wanted to help until he wouldn't be of any more use to both Tetra and Glen. Before long, Terra would be commanding this massive vessel without the head gear Gino so desperately needed if he was to maintain control. Before long - if this worked out - Glen would be their hero with that mechanical body of his. Before long, Gino would just be wandering the Snare's halls.

That's it.  
He wanted to make this count.

 

"Alright," Glen decided after much reluctance, figuring there was no way to successfully argue with the male. He reverted some of the displays before him and turned the Planetary so that its back was to the white-plated Snare. The soldier took a breath and focused on the quickly approaching warship, trying to figure out in advance what would be the next step. "So?" he questioned, "What's your plan, _hero_?"

 

His grin came back in a heart beat and a targeting display appeared within the visor; two new displays appeared in front, monitoring one thing with the title of "Weapons" and the other tracking the massive mother force that looked over the city streets, notes in some code-like language making points of weaknesses and strengths. Between both popped up a singular READY and Gino pointed forward like the captain of a pirate ship. 

"FIRE!"

The hub and the Zestian Sky all seemed to dim at once, a red beam firing from beyond the right side of the glass. It hit its target dead center, the groan of a massive beast echoing against the plating. The hit was enough to lower the already diminished altitude and send the cruiser scraping against the street, smoke billowing from the pierce. Considering how young the weapon systems were - literally minutes old - it didn't surprise him when the craft refused to explode. Glen and Gino shared one last engagement: "Let's kick their ass."

"Aye aye."

 

Communication shut down, but the Planetary continued to be heavily monitored. The energy surrounding Gino shifted, as if he - like Tetra - had become a part of the ship itself. He gave her a brief, encouraging smile. "Hold on a little longer, okay? Then you can sleep in for as long as you want." There was no need to wait for a response, he already knew that Tetra was going to do her best to stay conscious. So, he went to work, completely surrounding himself with a ceaseless flow of information and controls. No words escaped past his lips yet his mouth moved, soundlessly giving commands and keeping his spastic mind in perfect check.

If the Snare wasn't "alive" before, it definitely was now.

System screens even poured beyond the circular space both the captain and partner resided in, filling the upper level of the control deck with a blue glow. The brown haired Zestian moved his arms with care, controlling where the screens went and what would happen, but to the hazed mind of Tetra, none of the information would be clear. It would only seem like a dance between the puppet and master, strings connecting all of them together in a fluid unity. Thrusters flared and, with speed that didn't match the bulk of the vessel, Snare rose from its simple hover over the streets to an aerial position above the city - just below the dusty clouds. It backed up a bit with the shift of power, tilting enough so that the ground was partially in view of the front, glass shielding before it blasted into a higher gear. Snare shot back towards the ground but soon arched into a proper, straight flight pattern, aiming directly for the broken hull of the enemy ship. Artillery fired and guns lay waste, the heavier firepower focused on the already broken portion of the Galra cruiser and the lighter on the fighers and alien life forms terrorizing the streets.

Before it got too close, the ship was rising again, nearly scraping its belly against the face of the command ship's ion cannon. It was truly far too nimble for its size, twisting like a cork as it rose high overhead before switching its aim to the back of the ship. As it fired, it soon became clear that while attack shooting seemed to come with the intent of _catastrophic_ damages, it wasn't being focused on the craft's means of flight like engines or thrusters.

Both Snare and Gino didn't intend on leaving it grounded.

~

Armed with only the energy blade, Planetary and Glen propelled themselves forward under the massive shadow of the Snare. Thrusters on the feet worked like wheels, the lowered sword posed as steering, and as soon as the Snare was sky bound again, energy flared like a firework and blasted the mech off of the ground. The opening made in the hull was big enough for the considerably small mech, who slipped in with ease and lay siege to the weaponry built there. He couldn't linger for too long, but spent as much time as he could, letting the system work in synchronization with the Snare.

~

Though lacking the main body, the Pluto build was hovering in position; fully operational and ready for engaging. It was quite a sight - one unnoticed due to the commotion within the city limits - for all of these body-like pieces to be hovering in its massive shape, spaces between each one that held a visual of the landscape should one take a peak. The eyes lit up, and the thrusters in the swirled tails on its calves ignited with blue. All in a rush, it blasted off, its internal navigation mapping out a singular point in the thin atmosphere above the planet.

~

##### ENGAGEMENT POINT LOCKED ON.

#####  _Map Overridden. Plotting designated connecting point for Planetary._

~

Gino and Tetra could see it on the map that had separated itself from the clutter of projections. The brunette turned his attention to the display, smirking when he saw the racing blip and the present-time visual that popped up with it; the separated pieces of the massive mecha zipping through the clouds. "God..." Gino muttered, shaking his head as he pulled up a timer that counted down the connection time, "That kid's just full of surprises, huh?" Truth be told, he was freaking out at the sight. It was just so...so..! He punched the air. "THIS IS AWESOME!"

 

The Snare's path of flight shifted from just a standard lift over the commanding craft. Now, there was a plan set in motion. All thrusters - underneath the belly, along the wide protrusions on the Snare's side, and even the stabilizers along the front and rear - directed themselves towards the ground. It took one automated surge through the systems to ignite them at full capacity. In moments, they were racing upward at the appropriate angle for exit, a larger map overtaking the first one. A point was plotted high above Zestus and a little notation was marked "Docking Point".

"Keep to your windows, Glen," Gino warned, crouching down to grab onto Tetra. Mainly to secure her during exit and make sure she knew things were working. "Be careful.." The ship rattled like a collection of tin as it ripped through the atmosphere. Wisps of clouds dissipated around the hull plating and left only an expanse of empty space, the glitter of stars filling the dimming command hub. It was a sight...

Honestly? The sight of the stars was almost too much for him. He had seen them almost every night, had stared up at the shining lights several times with a silent wish to explore them. But that was on Zestus. Even from their home, as barren as the planet surface itself was, the lights from the city dimmed quite a few of the stars he saw in front of him; even on a clear night. Seeing them now was a completely different story. 

There were no artificial lights polluting the sky. It was just _Space._ Stars that he had never been able to notice before winked at him from lightyears away. Distant planets seemed closer, actually within a finger's reach despite being months from their current position. It was beautiful. The most beautiful thing that he had ever seen.

"It's so big..." Tetra's voice barely came out as a whisper. In return, Gino smiled gently. It would seem that she was feeling the same thing he was. As the ship continued out beyond the planet's reach, making its way to the designated docking point, they only had to wait for Glen.


End file.
